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| Hiking | 8.43 Miles |
2,167 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.43 Miles | 5 Hrs 6 Mns | | 1.66 mph |
| 2,167 ft AEG | 1 Min Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The last time I hiked out to Rondo Spring was a good 16 years ago, so it seemed like a good time to try again. From the Spur Cross TH I took the Spur Cross and Tortuga Trails, and then took the Trail 252 bypass and then took the Elephant Mountain Trail westbound. Along 252, I tried to take the spur trail up to Peterson Spring, which I had also done 16 years ago. This time, however, I only got a few hundred feet before the trail faded away. I was moving pretty slowly anyway with the rockiness of the trails at the higher elevations here, so I decided to move on.
Before I got to the Elephant Mountain Trail junction, I saw another hiker coming the other way who seemed a little disoriented. he thought a trail junction was just ahead, when in fact it was a good half mile away. I directed him to follow the faint trail and watched to see he was on the right track.
Hiking up to the junction where you can go to Rondo Spring or Black Mesa was hard to follow, harder than when I hiked this trail just last April. The monsoon rains seem to have promoted a lot of grass growth, which made the trail hard to follow and the cairns hard to find.
Once i got to Rondo Spring, I found the Rondo Spring Trail, which heads westbound to New River. I only hiked a small bit of before I headed back. It's a 4 mile hike to the spring from New River, but according to the guide, about half of that is dirt roads. Next time I'll have to try to plan for the longer hike to the end of the single track on this trail.
Took the short way back and called it a day. Slow going along the rocky sections, but a decent hike. Saw a lot more hikers once i was back in the county park area. |
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